Strained InGaAsP multiquantum wells for optical electroabsorption waveguide modulators

The quantum-confined Stark effect in strained InGaAsP multiquantum wells with InGaAsP barriers and its application to the optical electroabsorption waveguide modulator are described. A large spectral red shift of more than 450 AA is observed at a low applied voltage of 3 V. An extinction ratio of >14 dB is demonstrated with a driving voltage as low as 5 V.<>     

Efficient electroabsorption in InGaAsP/InGaAsP MQW optical waveguide

Efficient electroabsorption in an InGaAsP/InGaAsP MQW optical waveguide modulator structure is reported. A 17 dB extinction ratio is obtained by applying a 3.5 V drive voltage to a 78 mu m long waveguide operating at 1.54 mu m under TE-polarisation mode. The on-state attenuation is only 2 dB.<>     

High-speed MQW electroabsorption optical modulators integrated withlow-loss waveguides

An MQW electro-absorption optical modulator integrated with low-loss input and output waveguides is proposed to achieve larger modulation bandwidth with a shorter modulation region, keeping the total device length large enough for easy fabrication and packaging. A fabricated 1-mm-long modulator with a modulation-region length of 50 μm shows a low insertion loss (7 dB), low driving voltage (V_{10 dB}=2.6 V), and large modulation bandwidth f_{3 dB} =40 (GHz) extrapolated from measurements up to 20 GHz. This modulator is suitable for application to ultra-high-speed fiber transmission systems     

InGaAsP/InP monolithic integrated circuit with lasers and an optical switch

InGaAs/InP monolithic integrated circuits composed of a compact carrier-injection optical switch and distributed feedback laser diodes are fabricated. These integrated circuits have a variety of functions, such as monolithic modulators, switches and optical amplifiers for optical communication systems.     

A novel processing technique to fabricate planar InGaAsP/InP electroabsorption waveguide modulators

A novel processing technique has been developed to fabricate planar electroabsorption waveguide modulators in compound semiconductor heterostructures. The lateral confinement of light is achieved by introducing controllable, reproducible, and stable stresses into semiconductor heterostructures using WNi surface stressor stripes, which also serve as electrodes for the waveguide modulators. Self-aligned helium implantation is employed to achieve electrical isolation using the Stressors as the templates for the ion masks. An increase as large as 33000 times has been obtained in the dc resistance between the neighboring waveguide modulators 25 μm apart. Propagation loss of 1.7 dB/cm is observed in the photoelastic waveguides at a wavelength of 1.53 μm following the He implantation. A post-implant thermal annealing at 310°C for 40 min increases the dc resistance between the neighboring devices to the maximum value, and at the same time reduces the optical loss to its value before ion implantation (less than 1 dB/cm). Using a combination of the photoelastic effect and helium implantation, planar InGaAsP/InP Franz-Keldysh-effect waveguide modulators 430 μm long with a 10 dB extinction ratio at 3 V for the TM mode have been fabricated. Planar electroabsorption quantum-confined Stark effect waveguide modulators have also been demonstrated. This planar device processing technique may prove valuable in future photonic integrated circuit technology.     

Monolithically integrated InGaAsP/InP composite-cavity distributedfeedback lasers

Linewidth reduction to 1 MHz for monolithically integrated extended-cavity DFB lasers that are designed to achieve high optical coupling to a low-loss extended cavity is described. Since a high-efficiency extended cavity at the same time degrades the frequency-modulation (FM) response, an active gain section is integrated at the end of the extended cavity, and its use as a modulator section that maintains a flat FM response at 0.7 GHz/mA is shown. The linewidth and FM characteristics of this DFB extended-passive/active-cavity laser are compared to those of the conventional DFB extended-passive-cavity laser and a two-section DFB laser     

Monolithically integrated array of GaAlAs electroabsorption modulators

The operation of an eight-element monolithic array of GaAlAs electroabsorption modulators has been demonstrated. The single-mode waveguide modulators are implemented in a reverse-biased p-?-n heterojunction configuration, with centre-to-centre spacing of 9 ?m between adjacent channels. This device may be useful for intensity modulation in high (spatial) resolution applications.     

High-efficiency electroabsorption in quaternary AlGaInAsquantum-well optical modulators

Quaternary AlGaInAs quantum-well optical modulators operating at 1.55 μm are introduced and demonstrated for the first time. An electron-to-heavy-hole exciton absorption peak shift of over 600 Å is observed for a bias voltage of 6 V. An extinction ratio of 19 dB and high-speed operation over 4 GHz is obtained for this optical modulator     

MQW DBR lasers with monolithically integrated external-cavity electroabsorption modulators fabricated without modification of the active region

In this letter, we report the design and operation of multiple-quantum-well distributed Bragg reflectors (MQW DBR) lasers with monolithically integrated external-cavity electroabsorption (EA) modulators without modification of the active region fabricated using only a single growth step. Devices were fabricated with operating wavelengths of 1.06, 1.07, and 1.08 /spl mu/m, which are red-shifted from the material gain peak wavelength (/spl lambda/=1.05 /spl mu/m) by 100, 200, and 300 /spl Aring/, respectively. The /spl lambda/=1.06-/spl mu/m device has a continuous-wave (CW) threshold current of 16 mA and a slope efficiency of 0.09 W/A from the modulator facet, while the /spl lambda/=1.08 /spl mu/m device has a CW threshold current of 33 mA and a slope efficiency of 0.40 W/A from the modulator facet. The /spl lambda/=1.06-, 1.07-, and 1.08-/spl mu/m device exhibits an extinction ratio of /spl ges/20 dB at a modulator bias of 1.0, 1.4, and 2 V, respectively.     

Fabry-Perot electroabsorption modulators for high-speed free-space optical communication

Retroreflective modulators are key components in free-space optical communication systems between mobile platforms and users. Wide-aperture surface-normal electroabsorption modulators based on GaAs-AlGaAs quantum wells embedded in an asymmetric Fabry-Perot cavity are designed and fabricated with a high yield process on 10-cm wafers. It is shown that the modulator yield and its speed are improved significantly by a pixellated approach in which monolithic modulators are divided into 4-64 pixels. The fabricated 1.5/spl times/1.5 cm/sup 2/ devices exhibit contrast ratios of 8 dB at a driving voltage of 8 V and a modulation frequency higher than 10 MHz, which provides low noise and fast data transmission for long distance free-space optical communication.     

Gigahertz-bandwidth InGaAsP/InP optical modulators/switches with double-hetero waveguides

A new kind of InGaAsP/InP electro-optic directional coupler modulator/switch with double-hetero plano-convex waveguides, which is suitable for monolithic integrated optics, has been proposed and demonstrated. The fabricated devices have shown low optical loss (4 dB/cm) and high modulation bandwidth of 1 GHz at 1.3 ?m wavelength.     

Polarisation insensitive semiconductor optical amplifier withintegrated electroabsorption modulators

The authors demonstrate a 1.55 μm wavelength multiquantum well semiconductor optical amplifier, integrated with bulk layer electroabsorption modulators and passive waveguide beam expanders at the input and output ports. The device has a fibre to fibre gain of 9 dB, an extinction ratio of 15 dB per modulator, a spectral range >35 nm, and polarisation sensitivity <1 dB     

Monolithic integration of multiple quantum well DFB lasers and electroabsorption modulators

Advanced fibre optics telecommunication systems rely on high performance components amongst which photonic integrated circuits (PICs) play a major role. In particular, there has been a growing need for low chirp optical sources, such as externally modulated distributed feedback (DFB) lasers. In this paper, the various monolithic integration schemes of multiple quantum well DFB lasers and electro-absorption modulators are reviewed and typical applications of these devices are briefly presented.     

MQW wavelength-tunable DBR lasers with monolithically integrated external cavity electroabsorption modulators with low-driving voltages fabricated by selective-area MOCVD

The design and operation of multiple-quantum-well (MQW) wavelength-tunable distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) InGaAs QW lasers with nonabsorbing gratings and monolithically integrated external cavity electroabsorption modulators fabricated by selective-area MOCVD are presented. Uncoated devices exhibit CW threshold currents as low as 10.5 mA with slope efficiencies of 0.21 W/A from the laser facet. Wavelength tuning of 7 nm is obtained by injection current heating of the DBR section. These devices also exhibit extinction ratios of 18 dB from the modulator facet at a low modulator bias of 1 V, when measured with a broad-area detector. When coupled to a singlemode fiber, these devices exhibited high extinction ratios of 40 dB at a modulator bias of 1.25 V.     

Strongly improved frequency response at high-optical input powersfrom InGaAsP compensated strain MQW electroabsorption modulators

InGaAsP MQW electroabsorption modulators with and without compensated strain were fabricated and tested. Compensated strain was employed to reduce the valence band discontinuity between the well and barrier, which decreased the heavy-hole carrier escape time. A short optical pulse coupled into the modulator was used to measure the enhancement in carrier escape time from strained compensated InGaAsP quantum wells, for the first time. As a result, the strained MQW sample demonstrated an improved frequency response when operated at high optical input powers and low fields     

Fabrication of electroabsorption optical modulators using laserdisordered GaInAs/GaInAsP multiquantum well structures

Electroabsorption optical modulators have been fabricated on GaInAs/GaInAsP multiquantum well structures whose bandgap had been increased by laser photoabsorption-induced disordering. Modulation depths of 20 dB have been obtained in material which has been bandgap blue shifted by as much as 120 nm, while samples shifted by 80 nm gave depths as high as 27 dB     

Lightwave-microwave unified analysis of electroabsorption modulators integrated with RF coplanar waveguides

We present a comprehensive analysis of the electrical-to-optical (E/O) response of multiquantum-well electroabsorption modulators integrated with microwave coplanar waveguides. The predicted small-signal E/O response is validated through comparison with measurement. A photocurrent effect on the dynamic extinction ratio is also demonstrated.     

Etched-coupled-cavity InGaAsP/InP lasers

A new structure for coupled-cavity lasers operating at 1.25 ?m wavelength is presented. Using chemical etching, we made a three-cavity laser from an index-guided channelled-substrate Fabry-Perot laser. It oscillates in a single longitudinal mode with a side-mode suppression ratio of 200:1 in the pumping current range of 120 mA to 220 mA. The same mode was maintained at a fixed current of 160 mA as the heat-sink temperature was varied from 9°C to 45°C. The advantages of this laser over other coupled-cavity lasers are the simplicity of fabrication, the accuracy of cavity length control, and the possibility of incorporating short-etalon sections in the coupled cavities.     

InGaAs/InGaAsP MQW optical amplifier integrated withgrating-assisted vertical-coupler noise filter

A photonic integrated circuit with an InGaAs/InGaAsP multiple-quantum-well (MQW) traveling-wave optical amplifier and a grating-assisted vertical-coupler filter as a noise filter have been demonstrated. A fiber-to-amplifier/filter gain of ~0.5 dB and a 3-dB filter bandwidth (FWHM) of ~70 Å at 1.56 μm filter center wavelength have been achieved. This photonic circuit is potentially suitable as a building-block for preamplifier lightwave receivers or high-gain, high-power optical amplifiers which are essential for optical communication systems and lightwave networks     

InGaAsP/InP dual wavelength lasers

The first successful dual wavelength lasers emitting at 1.2 ?m and 1.3 ?m wavelengths are described. The lasers operated up to 0°C.